Department of Human Services, $982,620,000

Administered Items for the Department of Human Services, $231,162,000

Membership:

Ms Wortley substituted for Mr Brown.

Minister:

Hon. K.A. Hildyard, Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing.

Departmental Advisers:

Ms L. Boswell, Chief Executive, Department of Human Services.

Mr N. Ashley, Chief Financial Officer, Department of Human Services.

Ms A. Reid, Executive Director, Community and Family Services, Department of Human Services.

Ms S. Vas Dev, Director, Office for Women, Department of Human Services.

Ms K. Biggins, Director, Office of the Chief Executive and Governance, Department of Human Services.

The CHAIR: Welcome everybody. The portfolio is the Office for Women, Department of Human Services. The minister appearing is the Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence. I advise that the proposed payments are open for examination and call on the minister to make a statement, if the minister wishes, and to introduce advisers. I call on the lead speaker for the opposition to make a statement, if the member wishes. I call on members for questions.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I start by acknowledging the role that many Aboriginal women leaders play in preventing and ending domestic, family and sexual violence and in promoting Aboriginal women's participation and leadership through generously sharing wisdom and culture and through often tireless advocacy. I am honoured to appear before this committee as the Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence.

Today, I have with me at my right Lois Boswell, the Chief Executive of the Department of Human Services. Also, further to my right is Sanjugta Vas Dev, the Director of the Office for Women in the Department of Human Services. At my left is Nick Ashley, the Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Human Services. Also with me are Kelly Biggins, Director, Office of the Chief Executive, and Alex Reid, Executive Director, Community and Family Services in the Department of Human Services.

This government has a strong vision for achieving gender equality and for preventing and ending the terrible scourge of domestic, family and sexual violence and all forms of disrespect and discrimination that disproportionately affect women in our community. A combination of factors impacts a woman's economic security and ability to equally participate in aspects of community life over the course of her lifetime. It is likely that, compared to a man, a woman will earn less, be less likely to advance her career, accumulate less superannuation and savings, and be more likely to live in poverty in old age.

Women are more likely to work part time and in casual roles, have fragmented work histories and precarious attachment to workplaces. They often experience greater levels of discrimination, have fewer employment opportunities and have lower levels of financial literacy and independence than male counterparts. It is this combination of factors that can leave some women in poor financial circumstances in later life and can contribute to the gender pay and superannuation gaps. It is also these factors that saw women disproportionately and negatively impacted by COVID.

So many women in South Australia and across the country are impacted by domestic, family and sexual violence. One in three Australian women has experienced physical or sexual violence, or both, perpetrated by a man they know. Women are more likely than men to experience violence by a partner. Approximately one in five Australian women have experienced sexual violence from the age of 15. On average, at least one woman per week in Australia is killed by an intimate partner or former partner, and Australian women are more likely than men to be killed by an intimate partner.

Like many in this place, I am driven to address inequality and to ensure that women and girls can safely, equally and actively participate in our economy and in every aspect of community life. This is the right thing for girls and women and it is the right thing for our entire community, as an equal future benefits everyone.

Our government's commitment to addressing economic inequality includes investment in industries which predominantly employ women and which were impacted particularly by the pandemic, including the arts, major events and tourism. We will also support the economic participation of South Australian women and reduce inequality through establishing a gender pay gap task force so that we can understand and address the factors that contribute to the gender pay gap in South Australia in a systematic way.

The Premier's Women's Directory will be re-established, linking it to the existing register and providing an additional avenue for South Australian women to identify and join boards. A reinvigorated Premier's Women's Directory will also support the government's commitment to achieving and maintaining 50 per cent representation of women on state government boards. We will reinstate the women in sport task force to advise the government on issues preventing women and girls fully participating in the sport that they love.

Both the Premier's Women's Directory and the women in sport task force were shamefully shut down, cruelly cut by the previous government. For a relatively small investment these initiatives can help make a difference and advance us closer to gender equality. We have also funded a $4 million women in business package, which will provide a suite of programs that will be made available to South Australian female-owned businesses.

Importantly, we will also develop and introduce an equality bill, which will seek to promote, encourage and facilitate the systemic achievement of gender equality. These commitments will ensure that South Australian women and girls can build financially stable futures and be empowered to equally participate in all aspects of community life. Achieving gender equality and increasing women's economic independence supports this government's commitment to change community attitudes about the roles that girls and women can play in community, economic and family life.

Outdated attitudes lead to disrespect for women, and this is one of the underlying causes of domestic and family violence. As minister, I will continue to relentlessly speak up and act to prevent and end domestic violence. Domestic, family and sexual violence has no place in our community. We intend to progress a range of legislative changes and reforms to criminalise coercive control, to include the experience of domestic violence as a ground of discrimination in the Equal Opportunity Act, to investigate progressing paid domestic violence leave for workers pursuant to the Fair Work Act SA, to require those who were granted bail who have been charged with serious domestic violence offences to be electronically monitored as a condition of their bail, and to review legislation pertaining to consent to sexual activity.

Prevention is also at the core of our government's response to domestic, family and sexual violence. We have committed funding to establish two domestic violence early intervention and recovery hubs in the north and the south of Adelaide to support and empower women and to raise community awareness. We will work with the finance and real estate industries to determine how we can ensure those who have experienced domestic violence do not bear the brunt of mortgages, loans and rents that often go unpaid as a result of domestic violence.

I look forward to continuing to speak with many representatives in many industries and across our community to progress these important initiatives and I look forward to progressing them with the 14 out of 27 Labor members in the House of Assembly who are women.

The CHAIR: Thank you, minister. Member for Frome, any statement or questions?

Ms PRATT: Straight to the questions, thank you.

The CHAIR: Straight to the questions.

Ms PRATT: Thank you, minister. If we can start with Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, Program 1: Status of Women. The South Australia government, along with all states and territories, received several rounds of national partnership funding via the Women's Safety Taskforce. What process is your government undertaking to allocate the final amounts of funding?

The CHAIR: What page was that?

Ms PRATT: Page 85, Program 1: Status of Women.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Thank you for that question. The Office for Women, and myself as minister, will absolutely continue to work with the commonwealth Department of Social Services and, of course, continue to work with the South Australian domestic, family and sexual violence service sector to ensure that national partnership funding is used in the most effective way possible to provide the best outcomes for South Australians. I certainly look forward to working with the new minister, and indeed the entire federal government, on the scope of future payments to ensure that they absolutely address the particular needs of our state.

As you would be aware, the purpose of the National Partnership Agreement on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses 2021-23 (the national partnership) is to support service providers to deliver critical family and domestic violence services to meet demand in the context also of the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on women's and children's safety and to support those who most need it.

Funding is also intended to trial new initiatives and undertake reforms to address emerging jurisdictional priorities and any identified needs and market gaps related to service delivery, as well as to enhance data and reporting across jurisdictions on the use and impact of the new national partnership funding.

The Office for Women has been keeping me abreast of their collaboration with the sector to design new service models which can address those gaps across the service continuum, from early intervention to response and recovery. As you would be aware, all future payments in terms of the plan that we develop have to be allocated subject to commonwealth approval.

Ms PRATT: In that regard, which programs that have been funded as pilots or on a short-term basis will continue or discontinue?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I can list them if you want me too, but what I can say is those that have been initiated will continue throughout the life of the partnership. As I said, I can go through and list all of those that will continue.

Ms PRATT: Perhaps, minister, if I may I will give you my list with a supplementary question and we will see if we are at the same point. Is the government committed to continue funding which might be expiring on the following programs: ANROWS—I am sure you do not need me to expand on that; DV Serial Offender Database; the personal protection app; Safe and Well Kids; Stop it at the Start, the national primary prevention awareness campaign; and a continuation of Safe and Secure Housing, which assists victims-survivors to transition into the private rental market.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: What I can say is that all of those are continuing throughout the life of the partnership. I would just advise the member, and you may be aware of this, that the Stop it at the Start is a national campaign. Of course, given it is a national campaign, we do not necessarily have—

Ms PRATT: The mechanism or the authority to—

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: —the mechanism. Certainly, I can assure the member of my commitment to prevention and early intervention, and speak about a range of ways that we will be looking at prevention and early intervention. As I said, they are all continuing. Stop it at the Start is a national campaign, so that will obviously have other parties that will discuss the continuation of that program. The personal protection app is continuing. I recall that I was asking questions about that the other day in terms of numbers, etc., evaluating how well that is.

Ms PRATT: Minister, you were asking your agency about it?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Yes. It just reminded me that I have been asking questions because, as the member would appreciate, in this space we want to be doing everything that we possibly can to engage measures and mechanisms that work and that assist our efforts in any way possible to prevent and end domestic violence. Certainly, if there is any other information about that I can let you know, but I think that answers your question.

Ms PRATT: I think the minister has confirmed that other than a national program the programs listed are continuing.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Yes.

Ms PRATT: Moving to Budget Paper 5, page 65, in relation to the domestic violence northern and southern hubs, what type of service model is the government looking at for these hubs where the budget declares $1 million over three years to establish a hub?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: As I spoke about in my opening statement—and I am sure it is something that everybody in this chamber, indeed, in this house would commit to—I am certainly steadfastly committed to doing what is possible to help prevent and end the absolutely horrific scourge of domestic, family and sexual violence in our community and to address the gender inequality that we know drives disrespect and violence toward women. It is a commitment that I have certainly held for a very long time and, as I said, I know it is a commitment that many in this house share.

It is a commitment that is utterly driven by the compelling call to action that is amplified by the deeply disturbing statistics that I listed at the beginning of this session. It is a commitment that is also driven by desire to ensure that no children experience the shame and the embarrassment that comes with experiencing domestic violence. It is a commitment that is driven by an absolutely burning passion to ensure that there is not one more woman who is killed, abused or disrespected; and it is a commitment that is driven by a deep belief in our collective capacity as a community to do better on this front.

Our government has rightly committed to multiple actions that will be delivered upon as soon as possible. We want to make a lasting difference and take significant steps toward preventing and ending domestic violence, once and for all.

Gender inequality, as I mentioned before, is at the core of disrespect toward women and at the core of sexual and domestic violence. We must work harder with our communities to ensure that outdated notions about gendered roles in our community are eradicated and all South Australians are respected and given the opportunity to safely, equally and actively participate in every aspect of community life in our economy. We are determined to shift perceptions in our community about women in order to stop violence before it starts.

Part of the role of those hubs will be to make sure that they do harness that collective community energy, and mobilise that energy around preventative efforts and awareness efforts. As is stated in the budget papers we are investing $1 million towards the Southern and Northern Domestic Violence Prevention and Recovery hubs; that is a commitment of $500,000 for each of those hubs. As I said, the hubs will focus on bringing together local supports and local services, and with efforts to both raise community awareness about the prevention of domestic and family violence and also to focus on empowering women to recover, to access the support and services they require to walk a new, safer pathway.

The department will lead the delivery of this commitment, and of course as minister I will be closely involved. The first steps will include an engagement process with key stakeholders in both of those regions to better understand the needs of those respective communities. We will also be seeking partners from government, non-government and business sectors to attract any possible additional resourcing, and hopefully through doing so that will allow opportunity for those hubs to become deeply embedded in their respective communities.

Just as a matter interest, those northern and southern metropolitan hubs are being established separate to the safety hubs that were previously established, but I think that the more we can join up effort and collaborate the better. We will certainly be responding to needs identified in each of those communities to better align effort, both in the preventative space and community awareness raising space but also in making sure that there is more support for women to, as I said, walk new pathways.

Ms PRATT: Just continuing on with that, I think we have some broad brushstroke and understanding of that hub, and perhaps high-level aspects of the model. If I can put a few more questions to you on that—

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Yes.

Ms PRATT: —I think they will make sense in the collective. Following on from the service model question, and you have touched on this, how would those two hubs integrate with existing services in the northern and southern regions? Perhaps not to reinvent the wheel, looking at the funding model, and you have explained it is a split of $500,000 for the northern and southern hubs, why does the funding cease at the end of the 2024-25 year? Is that because it is a time-limited hub, and do you, or they, factor in the sustainability, so that it is embedded for women?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I think there are a few questions in there.

Ms PRATT: Yes.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: The first question, and please remind me if I forget any of them, but in relation to the first question about working with or alongside existing services, in terms of the stakeholder consultation where the detail of the hubs will be designed, of course we will take into account what already exists. What we have heard repeatedly over a number of years is that, whilst there are incredible workers who undertake just outstanding work in crisis accommodation services—and I could go on at length about how wonderful people are at the Women's Safety Service; I know the member for Elder is a former colleague of people at the Women's Safety Service.

In both the south and the north, as you would be aware, there are crisis accommodation services, and they provide an excellent service to women who are at immediate risk, who are in imminent danger, and once a woman connects with those particular crisis accommodation services they are then, through their interaction with those particular services, able to be supported to housing pathways, to legal services, to a range of other supports.

If a woman is not engaged with crisis accommodation—and this has certainly been the experience and you may have had this experience in your electorate office—I have often had women come to my electorate office who will start to speak about their concerns and their desire to take steps to, I guess, be safer, but they do not always have access to the support and services they need, whether that is counselling or therapy or connection with legal services, etc. So it is in a very broad way designed to fill those gaps that are not responded to by crisis accommodation services.

Having said all of that, I think it is incredibly important that, in each of those communities, service providers—those who are in that space—and community leaders, who lead all sorts of innovative community efforts around prevention, also have a say in what the model looks like. I think that answers your first question. In relation to I think the second question—

Ms PRATT: What makes it sustainable? Is it time-limited because the funding runs out in the third year?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: We are committed to the hubs continuing. As I said, we want to make sure that we engage partners in the delivery of any services, supports and programs through the hub. Of course we want to mobilise activity but also funds around the hubs, and it is certainly an issue that we will continue to monitor closely because we want them to be sustainable into the future.

Ms PRATT: Does the government imagine any regional hubs?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I know some of them are called hubs and some of them are called havens. I had the pleasure of visiting the Mount Gambier haven a couple of weeks ago. That is staffed by an incredible group of volunteers who provide immediate support to women in crisis or women who are worried about particular issues. There are seven havens and three hubs, and I have had various contacts with various volunteers, etc. from those havens and hubs.

I would envisage that they would continue, but I would say, in relation to the larger domestic violence prevention recovery hubs, that we do want to, as I said before, evaluate that model also so that those hubs can continue but also so that potentially we can, in the future, provide further support in whichever way those communities particularly need for those havens and those hubs. There is no intention for them not to continue; in fact, we would want to evaluate to see whether there are other opportunities for support. As time continues, I am certainly happy to have a conversation with you about particular needs in those areas. I am just trying to think where the closest hub to your—

Ms PRATT: I will not expand on the services in Frome. I am certainly advocating for hubs and havens across all of the regions.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Of course they would continue.

Ms PRATT: We understand the priority or focus or spotlight shining on Limestone Coast, given the government's visit there recently. I just have a final quick question on the $1 million allocated. Is that funding for the two hubs in the north and south from the national partnership or from another source?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Straight from the budget.

Ms PRATT: It is new funding?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Yes, absolutely. I am glad you mentioned that because, as you know, in terms of the next phases, 2 to 4, of the national partnership, that is absolutely new funding from the state government for those hubs. I am not saying this with any predicted outcome but, as you would appreciate, when we consider the future projects that will be delivered through future national partnerships, we will contemplate all the services and supports and what could possibly be added to or rejuvenated in any way to enhance delivery or programs at those particular sites.

Ms BOSWELL: We are looking at putting some national partnership money into supporting the regional hubs' coordination of volunteers to keep that model going and growing and to help them embed in their communities.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I think there will be further opportunities as further stages of the national partnership and plan continue.

Ms PRATT: I will move us on, if we can, but staying on page 85. Can the minister provide an update on the data and outcomes from the statewide perpetrator intervention service and the beds allocated to perpetrators through the former government's pilot program?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: The work with the sector to design initiatives that promote early intervention with perpetrators of domestic, family and sexual violence and to provide support to assist them to change their behaviours will continue in collaboration with the domestic, family and sexual violence services sector. That work to design those initiatives will continue.

No to Violence has been allocated $150,000 under the National Partnership on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses to expand the regional reach of the Statewide Perpetrator Response. I understand negotiations with No to Violence to develop the agreement around that funding have commenced. Again, I can give you further information as that agreement concludes.

One of the things that I did want to mention, which I mentioned in my opening statement, is that, in opposition, I moved a bill in the House of Assembly to require those who are granted bail and charged with serious domestic violence offences to be electronically monitored as a condition of their bail. I was very up-front before the election that that it is a bill that we will seek to reintroduce and to progress as part of our policy and our focus in dealing with perpetrators.

Ms PRATT: I refer the committee to page 85 of the budget paper. Regarding the Premier's Women's Directory, what are the terms of reference and the functions of this directory? If the minister will allow, can you outline the exact outcomes that will be achieved?

Ms BOSWELL: The Premier's Women's Directory was originally established in 2002 as a manual directory and had the resumés of women seeking appointment to South Australian government boards and committees. It later was upgraded to an online database where women could add and edit their own board CVs, and it allowed the boards to search the directory for potential candidates. Obviously, it was maintained in the past by the Office for Women and was primarily used by government and agency searches as part of the pursuit of the 50 per cent state government target in the past.

The original lot were all transferred to the BoardingCall database, but we are now looking to find a way to ensure that there is a women-specific directory approach. Women can register and people can specifically search the Premier's Women's Directory. We are seeking to try to integrate those databases so that as many women as possible are able to be on the database. Those conversations are in their early days at this point.

Ms PRATT: Thank you. Minister, to clarify, the Premier's Women's Directory is configured differently to BoardingCall because it will host a women-specific portal or function.

Ms BOSWELL: Yes. We are currently working with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet to see if we can have an integrated back of house, but there will be a specific front of house that is online, available for women and promotes women being supported to be on boards.

Ms PRATT: So BoardingCall currently exists, is hosted by DPC and will continue to exist with a new name. Will BoardingCall continue to exist?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: BoardingCall will continue to exist. The Premier's Women's Directory will also exist.

Ms PRATT: I understand.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: What the chief executive was saying, and I certainly do not understand the technology, is that where the platform can be used to align any back of house—

Ms PRATT: So perhaps no public-facing changes, but they are integrated at the back end?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Public-facing changes will be that there are the Premier's Women's Directory and BoardingCall. Back of house, there must be some way for technology to align.

Ms PRATT: That is what our information officers are for. When will this directory commence?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: The other thing about both of those is that women can choose to be on both if they wish to, but they can also choose to be on just the Premier's Women's Directory. Obviously, there will be work undertaken to make sure that it is promoted for that opportunity. Towards the end of the year we anticipate that it will be public facing, but work is already happening to scope.

Ms PRATT: Just thinking for all women who might want to choose that or decide that they do not want to use BoardingCall, what element of confidentiality or privacy is there around the government host of that information and access for boards?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: It is a really important question, and that is one of the issues that we will contemplate as we look at how we can synthesise. Data security will be a prime consideration, absolutely. DPC are responsible for data security across government, so they are certainly aware of those protocols. It is incredibly important, with any sort of initiative that is designed for use by women, that we are aware of security considerations, and this is not any different.

Again, I am really happy, as that particular matter progresses, to come and see you in the house and let you know how it is going. Certainly, once it is finalised, we will be launching and making sure that as many women as possible know about it and that there is support alongside the launching of it to have people feeling confident about providing their details and also feeling confident about taking on board roles and all the responsibilities that come with those roles.

Ms PRATT: Minister, you mentioned in your opening statement a passion about many things, including the gender pay gap task force. The reference is page 85. What are the terms of reference and functions of this task force, how much will it cost and when might it commence operating?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: As I am sure you would be aware, the gender pay gap measures the difference between the average earnings of women and men in the workforce. Despite significant pleasing gains over the past few years, Australian women still earn less than men across an average of occupations and industries. As you are aware, as a government, we have committed to establishing the gender pay gap task force. The South Australian gender pay gap, from memory, as at February 2022, sits at around 7.4 per cent. I can double-check that. Hopefully, it has gone down further.

We are currently in the process of undertaking research to inform the delivery of this election commitment, and we are looking at the scope, the terms of reference, the function and the membership. I think it is fair to say also that the recent election of the new federal Labor government, and its substantial commitment to gender equality reform and various programs that they have made commitments to, will also provide an opportunity to potentially align the South Australian tax force actions within a broader national effort.

We are doing better than the national average currently, which you might be aware of. The national gender pay gap is 13.8 per cent, and the South Australian one is 7.4 per cent. We are in the process of scoping the structure, the membership, the remit, etc.

Ms PRATT: I am not sure if I heard the answer about what it will cost.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Again, we are working through the scope.

Ms PRATT: In relation to domestic, family and sexual violence, referencing still page 85, I refer you to the domestic, family and sexual violence cross-government strategy. What consultation will inform this strategy? Perhaps the minister, if she answers, can address when this strategy will be completed by and how the implementation will be monitored.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: We are commencing developments on the new cross-government strategy with a really strong focus on making real change for individuals and families who are escaping domestic violence and on shifting community attitudes and perceptions that engender gender inequality and can lead to disrespect and violence towards women and girls.

The strategy will replace the Committed to Safety strategy, which ceases at the end of this month, so in a very short time. We will release our strategy after the release of the new national plan. This particular issue is something that I turn my mind to, but of course on coming into government the federal election was imminent and we have now had a change of government. I cannot speak for what they will do with the national plan, but certainly any changes or new directions that are made in the national plan we would want to contemplate in the development of our South Australian strategy as well.

Having said that, it is envisaged that the scope of our new South Australian strategy will include objectives in line with the pillars of primary prevention, early intervention, crisis response and recovery, and we want to make sure also that, alongside having a plan that responds to those four pillars, we also have a strategy around increasing sector capacity, filling gaps and growing where it needs to grow.

Next steps, of course, will include extensive consultation with those organisations in the domestic, family and sexual violence sectors, and also with community leaders and stakeholders who have an interest in this area, and we will of course be working with other departments. As you would be aware, there is a role for every person, every community, every organisation and every department in terms of preventing and ending domestic violence.

It is certainly my goal to bring the oft-repeated mantra that preventing and ending domestic violence is everybody's responsibility. That is certainly something that I would like to see brought to life in a very fulsome way in this strategy.

I can certainly come back to you with time frames around the plan but, as I said, we think it is important to contemplate the national plan and any new directions in that, and also to always—which is always the way I go about everything that I do, to include people who have an experience of domestic and family violence or sexual violence, in how we develop that plan, what that plan looks like and how it is rolled out and implemented here in this state.

Mrs HURN: I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 85, just the target in relation to the women in sport task force. Could you please give us a bit of information about the terms of reference and the functions of this task force: when will it commence and what resources and costs will be associated with the establishment of the women in sport task force?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Absolutely. I see our next one is about to start. I am happy to give you further information but it may be something that comes up in the next session. We had a women in sport task force when we were last in government. I do not have the dates in front of me but from memory that was established in late 2015, early 2016 and went through until March 2018.

We had an incredible group of individuals who gave their time to that task force. They included elite athletes, elite coaches, researchers, advocates, media personnel and events organisations, and we worked very hard to shift gender inequality as it related, in its many different forms, in sport—whether that was in coverage, in pay, or in particular equal access to facilities. It also focused on improving diversity in decision-making. I was pleased that, in relation to that particular strategy, it was one thing that I agreed with the previous minister for sport on, that they did continue the strategy that we had around board composition and equality in board composition.

We worked to attract major women's events to South Australia and also looked at how we could make sure that opportunities were realised through sport to build relationships across jurisdictions. We are currently scoping the women in sport task force and we are looking at membership and we are looking at remit because, whilst there is still a lot to do to achieve equality in sport, there are some things that have progressed to some degree since the commencement of the task force in 2016. We are currently scoping membership, and it is our intention to consult quite broadly with a range of people in the women in sport space, with a range of leaders to really agree exactly the remit of the task force and which particular issues we will focus on.

Mrs HURN: I do not want to push it with the Chair, but would—

The CHAIR: Just on that exercise and only if it effects a very short question and a very short answer.

Mrs HURN: It was not even a question. I am just wondering whether you would be pleased to take on notice the cost and resources associated with the re-establishment of that committee.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: What I would say is that we are currently working on the remit, the resources and the cost. When we get to launching, etc., that will be made public.

The CHAIR: We are at the allotted time, so I declare the examination of the portfolio of the Office for Women, DHS and the estimate of payments for the Department of Human Services and the Administered Items for the Department of Human Services completed. Thank you to all the public servants for all their help behind the scenes and here. It is much appreciated.